With 19 days to go we are really upon the final count down! My do to list is FINALLY getting shorter and all the details are coming together. I am certainly ready to be in Petoskey, relaxing and enjoying our wedding weekend. But until then let's catch up on all the fun projects I've been working on over that last 17 months.
Back in April I posted a list of all the projects I set out to do. Here is how I stand today:
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Save the Date
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Large letter "B" in moss
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Bridesmaid's gift (3 parts)
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Mailbox (half way complete)
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Table Runners
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Table Center Napkin
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Small letters "B" and "G" in moss
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Papery (invitations, programs, table #, placecard, etc)
-Wedding Story Card- Removed from list
-Centerpieces
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Memorial Candles
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Flower Girl gift (half complete)
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Groomsmen gift
-Aisle marker- Removed from list
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Placecard decor
-Favors- done by Lauren
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Welcome Bags
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Lighting Globe (my favorite project so far!)
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Parent/Grandparent wedding pictures- Done by Joyce
-Bar candles? Removed from list
-Head table front runner- added to list, almost done
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Cake topper- added to list
Not bad, huh?! Now for the details...
Moss Letters:
Over the course of our engagement I have had many obsessions when it comes to wedding projects. The first was moss. I love its texture and color. It's rustic but natural and very easy to work with. One of the very first projects I did was making moss letters. Using large cardboard letters from the craft store I cut out and hot glued strips of moss from a moss roll. The first one I did was a large "B" for our placecard table, followed by a smaller "B" and "G" for the backs of our chairs at the head table. Moss can be a little messy so I suggest using craft paper to help with clean up. I learned that one the hard way.
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| The Big "B" |
Mailbox
As you know I am a lover of all things SIMPLE. I am not attracted to ornate and intricate details, at least when it comes to wedding (and home) decor. So when it came down to finding something to put our cards in I felt stuck with the traditional options. I simply am not a traditional girl. I'm not a fan the the birdcages and other metal wire holders. I especially am not a fan that they cost over $100 to rent! So why not create something by hand that I can keep forever for less then half of renting??
The key to this project (and several others) is having an awesome Dad. During one weekend home in February my Dad and I took a regular trip to Home Depot. That's where I spoted the mailbox section and a light bulb clicked! For less then $20 I found a classic white mailbox, a perfect blank canvas for my card holder.
For security we screwed the door shut so no uninvited guest can take anything out. Using boards as guides to find the center we marked and cut out a slot with a die grinder. Safety glasses required!
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| Security |
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| Super Dad! |
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| Setting guides for the center |
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| Grind baby grind! |
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Nothing is better then father daughter DIY
project time!
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Once all the cutting and sanding of the opening was done the outside was a bit scratched up. My simple solution was to wrap it in white contact paper for a fresh cover. It also helped to smooth the edge of the card slot. To personalize it I ordered custom lettering from ilikevinyl.com. I think in total I spent $30 on this project plus some fun effort and now we have a one of a kind keepsake.
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| Insert money here...please and thank you! Just kidding! |
Burlap Table Runners
For several weeks during the winter I looked for table runners online. I order quite a few as options but never liked what I saw. Most looked very cheap even though they cost upwards of $10 each. I did a little more research in to table decor ideas and that's where I discovered my second obsession, burlap!
I love how it contrasts with the white linens but does not pop out at you like some of the other shiny cheap runners. It's a subtle and nice texture on the tables. Once I made my decision to go with the burlap runners I struggled to find ones online. So true to form I said "I can make these!" I ordered a 60" wide 50 yard bolt of fabric from burlapfabric.com for like $100. I will never forget the day my glorious burlap showed up at my door, it was taller then me!
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| My new BFF- Burlap Fabric Forever! |
I cut down the middle to create 30" wide runners for a total of 26 tables. It literally took over my whole living room. There was fiber everywhere!
One of my favorite things about this project is that I learned how to use a sowing machiene. The cut and unfinished edges needed some a quick hem. Needless to say I am hooked. I can't wait to buy my own someday. Once I got everything set up and a couple runners down it was smooth going. I was really surprised by how fast the sowing machiene worked. Although this was a fairly quick project, it sure was a messy one. For about 4 evenings straight I sowed and ironed away in my living room. By the end there was bits and pieces of burlap and fibers everywhere! On the floor, in the couch, on the cushions, in my hair, on the ironing board. This was truely one point in wedding planning that Ryan thought I had lost my mind! I got to say, I kind of agreed with him. But I do love my burlap runners! I love their look, uniqueness and the fact that they cost about $4 each. I have a ton of burlap left over and can't wait to continue crafting with it!
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| All cut and ready to be hemmed! |
Table Napkins
In order to add some color to the tables I decided to place a large green clothe napkin on top of the runners in the center. It will ground the centerpieces on the table. But plain napkins were not good enough, oh no. At the bridal show in Petoskey in February I saw a gorgeous table set up with patterned napkins. I inquired about how much it would cost to have them made. I had to laugh when she quoted me $40 a napkin! I KNEW I could do better. I found 6 packs of napkins for $10 at World Market. Add to that a few bucks of fabric paint and for the cost of 1 napkin I did 20. Not to shabby!
I should mention that because I had planned on two different centerpeices I only painted the pattern on half of the napkins. And thank god for that because this was a painful project. It took me basically a whole day to paint the 10 I did. All the while my back and neck grew more sore. But I still think for the cost and effort I added a unique touch.
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| Fabric paint, foam roller and brushes |
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| 1 complete pattern, 9 more to go! |
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| All done! Time for a massage. |
Memorial Candles
Our wedding is based around the people. All those we love most will be a part of our day. However there are several people that unfortunately will only be able to be with us in spirit. I felt it was really important to have them respresented in our own way. I really did not like the memorial candles I saw online. Most were cheesy looking and very traditional in style. I wanted something simple and clean looking.
Using vases from the craft store and candle holders from the dollar store (my new favorite place), I made expensive looking hurricane vases for very little. I had seen somewhere a printable transfer paper that can put writing or images on glass. I printed out my design and the names of those we want to remember and transfered it on to the vases. I had to do a little trimming with my exacto knife to remove some of the excess transfer paper. To add some color and interest I copied a favorite Pinterest pin that used split peas as filler inside the vase around the candles. Super cheap but super cool.
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| End candles- hot glued taller candle holders to vase |
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| Center candle- hot glued candle holder to vase |
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| The finished product |
Cake Topper
A common image that pops in my head when I think of being in up north Michigan is the classic adirondeck chair. You see them on the front porches and on the beaches everywhere. When we first saw the Perry Hotel I noticed they has some out around the veranda. From then on I considered it a perfect representation of our up north simple wedding. It too became another obsession of mine. Nothing else seemed fitting enough for our cake toppers. The image of two adirondeck chairs together reminds me of all the calm visits to northern Michigan Ryan and I will take through out our life together.
I found a website that made wooden chairs for doll houses. They thankfully had an adirondeck chair model! To make them blend more with our white frosted cake, I painted the chairs white to match. It's simply perfect...
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| Unpainted but you get the idea. |
Papery
Of all the things I've designed and made for our wedding our papery is high on my favorite list. Through a little trial and error I think I found the perfect combination of simple and classy that really represents who we are as a couple. The initial inspiration for our invitations came from Paper Source. I made some modifications along the way. One of my favorite parts is the custom map I designed. While helping my friends Anna and Brian make their invitations, Brian told me his trick in creating the map in theirs. Google maps printed as a pdf and drawn over in photoshop....amazing! I absolutely love how it turned out. And as a little nod to my Dad, who once talked abour sailing around Michigan to get to the wedding, I added a sail boat in the bay. It's most likely where he would be the day of the wedding had he continued with that idea of transportation.
Anyway, what I also love about our invitations is that I got to have a fun weekend with my maid of honor Jessica. What a great memory to have, assembling invitations, laughing, drinking and having all kinds of fun. My friend Anna also came over to help for a while. It's just so cool that so much love went in to making them. They truely are the labor of my love. The hours spent designing, printing, stamping, gluing and assembling is insane but TOTALLY worth it. I am a regular of Paper Source now, they know me by name.
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| Making invitations with my MOH! |
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| My dining room/workshop |
Continuing with the invitation theme I've also made the table numbers, guest book sign, favor tags, placecards and programs. And I can now say with confidance that I NEVER want to use a stamp again.
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Post stamping and embossing they are laid out to dry and cool
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Another favorite detail was the personalized
ribbon around the inner envelope. It honestly
was not much work but made a huge impact. |
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| Everything prepped and ready to assemble! |
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| Finally ready to mail out!! |
Light Globe
And finally the piece de resistance, my absolutely favorite project is the light globe (only way I can think to call it) my Dad and I made. It all started last winter when I was watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 1 (for like the hundreth time). There is a wedding scene towards the beginning. I happen to notice this cool light fixture hanging in the reception tent. It was like rings that made a globe, wrapped in fabric. It was a fast glance but I thought that would be so cool to have in our wedding tent.
I happen to go home for a weekend shortly there after and told my Dad about the lighting idea. Of course we started brainstorming right then and there. We came up with the idea of making the rings out of copper piping for plumbing. A coil of it goes for like $30 at home depot. It's easy to bend and shape but in order to get a perfect cirle we needed a mold to wrap it around. So my Dad cut out two circles of plywood as a guide for making the rings. At first we started with 3 rings but decided it needed to be fuller so we added 2 more. Once the rings were formed we welded the ends together to complete the circle. I'm super bummed because I had some great shots of my Dad and I making the rings together but I cannot find them : (
I had gone back and forth on how I wanted to light up the rings. At first I wanted to wrap them in fabric like the one I saw in HP. Then I thought about making it in to some sort of flower netting with lights. But when in doubt go the simple route. (Hey that rhymed!) I had ordered some white christmas lights, which were surpringly hard to find even online. Apparently no one using white lights with a white string anymore. I ended finding them on a great bulk website called koyalwholesale.com. I brought them home one weekend to play around with wrapping them on the rings. To my surprise when I came downstairs that Saturday morning my Dad had already wrapped all the rings and had our globe all set up! It was like Christmas morning! It turned out just as I had imagined. I absolutely love it. What a statement it will make in our tent. I also think it could make a cool garden feature someday at our home.
After I showed it to my bridesmaid Darcy she told me there were similar ringed style lighting fixtures at Restoration Hardware for upwards of $3,000! Well they didn't use christmas lights but still it's amazing considering ours cost well under $100.
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| Ta Dah!!! |
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Each ring is crimped at opposite ends and drilled
through to connect them all with a screw |
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| Twinkle twinkle! |
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| We should go in to business together! |
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| Maybe we are not professional but we have fun together! |
I have several other little projects I have worked on along the way. Some I can't display because they are gifts, can't ruin the surprise. But these are really my favorites. I have learned a lot and gained many crafting skills over the last year and a half. For anyone looking to be a DIY bride my greatest advice is that Pinterest, a hot glue gun and a handy Father of the Bride can get you far. While I wouldn't agree with those who say wedding planning is the greatest time ever, I will say that I have had so much fun personalizing our wedding with projects. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have!
Kristen
